Synopsis

The quest for lasting love is one of life’s essential pursuits, in some ways the most essential. But it’s also a quest that’s impossible to separate from spiritual and sexual needs. In Eros Ascending, author John Maxwell Taylor offers a wide-ranging study of sexual dysfunction in society and explains how healthy sexuality can be an entryway to universal love and higher consciousness. Based on Taylor’s twenty-three-year experience with Taoist practices, the book presents an engaging analysis of love, relationships, and sexuality from spiritual, romantic, and sexual perspectives. Taylor melds essential ideas by Jung, Gurdjieff, and Taoist Master Mantak Chia with science, biology, spiritual tradition, and current popular culture to shed new light on this eternal yet misunderstood subject. Not just for couples, the book is equally useful for single people who want to understand the methods for “learning to love yourself ” in preparation for a fulfilling, long-term relationship. Taylor draws on his eclectic background as a successful playwright, composer, actor, and musician in this persuasive plan for converting ordinary sexual energy into food for the soul.

Praise

Praise

"Eros Ascending goes straight to the heart of the matter. It is a serious book about mature deep sexuality that takes itself lightly. It is a valuable guide to help people who have been sexually traumatized to regain their innate capacity for pleasure and goodness."—Peter A. Levine, PhD, best-selling author of In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness and Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma: The Innate Capacity to Transform Overwhelming Experiences

“Eros Ascending is going to take you on an amazing journey toward the future of love in the Western world.” —From the Foreword by Linda E. Savage, PhD, author of Reclaiming Goddess Sexuality: The Power of the Feminine Way

“Taylor understands the role of Eros as creating interconnection. He unites man and woman, Eros and Psyche, spirit and nature, and heaven and earth, while seeding our hearts and minds with a sense that our true destiny lies in reclaiming for ourselves the beauty of love. A unique and original masterwork.” —Radmila Moacanin, PhD, author of Jung's Psychology and Tibetan Buddhism: Western and Eastern Paths to the Heart

“Eros Ascending sharpens our focus on the power of loving consciously and intelligently. The book sweeps us into the twenty-first century with its breadth of vision and message of hope for true lovers everywhere. Destined to become a classic.” —Margot Anand, author of The Art of Sexual Ecstasy: The Path of Sacred Sexuality for Western Lovers

"Excellent! A sweeping intelligent study of sacred sex long overdue! Especially one helpful to individuals in their spiritual and sexual growth ... and useful to popular culture. Those practicing Tantra already will find their excitement rekindled, their minds stimulated, and spirits re-enthused as they move to the next evolutionary stage." —Deborah Sundahl, author of Female Ejaculation and the G-Spot: Not Your Mother’s Orgasm Book!

“Eros Ascending profoundly explores the power of shakti and sacred sexuality as life-transforming sacraments. [The book is] a journey into higher states of consciousness and ecstasy.” —Charles Muir, author of Tantra: The Art of Conscious Loving and founder of Source School of Tantra Yoga

"Eros Ascending is one of the few and finest offerings to honor the concept of the sacredness of sexuality. The powerful knowledge, examples, and practices in this book have the ability to transform each and every one of us. As I dare to even imagine a world thus transformed, the tingle of energy rises up my spine in recognition of the divine ecstasy all around us."—Suzie Heumann, author of The Rules of Love: The 64 Arts of the Kama Sutra and founder of www.tantra.com

"For any sexual explorer, like myself, this book is a must. [It is] a work of profound scope, weaving insight, information, and inspiration into a rich tapestry of personal experience." —Diana Richardson, author of Tantric Orgasm for Women

"Playing Carl Gustav Jung in his marvelous award-winning twenty character one-man play Forever Jung (which I saw twice) must have had a profound effect on John Maxwell Taylor. In Eros Ascending he speaks with a depth of humanity and psychological insight that Jung would doubtless recognize as a complete expression of the author’s living ethos. This book transcends the mere scholarly to reach through the mind and touch the soul. —Dr. Herb Agan, Jungian psychologist and frequent lecturer at the Jung Center of Houston